St. Patrick's Day Eve

On the eve of St. Patrick's Day, as we all lay out green T-shirts for the morning and snuggle down in our beds, dreaming of Guinness, we might think about those who won't be included in tomorrow's festivities - gay Irish Americans who aren't allowed to march in the New York City parade.

The 249-year-old parade is a private event run by the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), which is a Roman Catholic religious organization. While they don't specifically disallow homosexuals to march with other organizations (a gay firefighter would presumably be allowed to march with the FDNY, strictly in a firefighter capacity), they don't let gay groups participate.

The LGBT community has mixed responses to this. A group called Irish Queers will be holding its annual protest on 57th Street and 5th Avenue starting at 11:00 a.m. They demand to be included in the celebration of Irish heritage that draws tens of thousands of spectators and has come to symbolize St. Patrick's Day in New York.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, an openly gay Irish-American, has spoken out against the parade's exclusionary policies and chooses to march in the open-to-all Queens County St. Patrick's Day Parade.

The blog Queerty argues that the gays shouldn't bother to try to get into the parade, that since it's a private event, the AOH has every right to exclude whomever it wishes, and that if it they were forced to allow gays to march in their parade, it might open the door for anti-gay groups to march in pride parades.

That's an interesting point, but faulty. Because the Irish gay groups want to march in the parade because they're Irish, not because they're anti-hetero.

Tomorrow, I'm going to check out the protest, the parade, and many pubs. I'll be carrying my video camera and hope to interview a cross-section of St. Patrick's Day revelers to find out what the day means to them.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day on this blog, and also for mini-updates on Twitter, where you can follow me at Finnegan17.

Here's a teaser, me on St. Patrick's Day 2009.


I have to see if I still have those googly shamrock antennae...

St. Patrick's Day 2010: Prepare to party

Well folks, it's February, and St. Valentine's Day approaches, but I'd like to turn our attention to the next hallowed saint day, that of our own dear Patrick. I'll be ruminating on this Irish holiday leading up and following March 17, but I need a game plan for the day of, and that's where you come in. This is much too serious an event to leave up to fate or my bad time management skills.




I'll leave this poll up until March 15 or so, when I'll discuss the results. You'll hear from me between now and then, not to worry. Have at it, and feel free to spread this around and get others to vote. Cheers, readers!

Irish teen sells virginity; Irish paper sells ethics

I saw this first on The Huffington Post and followed it through to a couple of UK papers. The original (as far as I can determine) is from the Belfast Telegraph. Read it here. Essentially, and not for the first time, a teenage girl tried to sell her virginity to the highest bidder on an action site. Apparently, a reporter for the Telegraph noticed the posting, contacted the girl to see if it was legit and then posed as a wealthy businessman to bid for the young lady's virtue.

It was not enough to verify with by speaking with her, of course. The "reporter" then had to continue the ruse until he was the highest, and winning, bidder. Why, you ask? Well, those lay people not familiar with journalist ethics might be curious, but the reason is obvious! To stop some sleazebag from winning, of course! Then the girl would be humiliated. It's not like the reporter and his editors could have just called her parents, or contacted the (most likely) unknowing auction service, or the proper authorities to report child - the girl is 16 - prostitution, or simply publish the story right away to ensure the girl's retraction. The ONLY viable option here was to continue with the charade.

Here are some great excerpts:

"Sunday Life [a section of The Telegraph] spent two weeks checking how genuine the teen’s offer was. During that time, she calmly bombarded our reporter with dozens of texts, many of a sexual nature."

"The girl — who we’re not identifying for ethical reasons — met our reporter just two days after he agreed to the £6,000 price-tag."

"The fresh faced teen turned up alone to meet our man in the centre of Newry last week. This was a huge risk as the man she was meeting could have been a dangerous serial sex offender or worse."

"The student walked home alone observed by a Sunday Life photographer, potentially exposing her address to a pervert."

Well as long as it was all in the name of journalism. I'm sure it was hard for this grown man to endure the sexually explicit text messages, the photos and the titillating conversation during which he asked her all about her virginity and plans to lose it, but hey, somebody's got to do it. If not him, it could have been some pervert.

It's also a nice touch to include the phrase "for ethical reasons" in an article like this. Stay classy, Belfast Telegraph.